From Pemberley to Paradise, page 15
As he was not speaking, she feared he would be against her idea, she added in haste, “They will do all the work for the school-house and the benches…we shall provide only the teacher!”
He set aside the book he was reading and came to sit near her on the large sofa. He took her into his arms.
“Elizabeth Darcy, you are wonderful!” he said, with evident admiration.
“You agree?” she asked in disbelief.
“Of course, I agree as long as this will not disrupt my activities!”
“They will not, I swear!”
As Mrs Gibbert entered with the maids bringing the tea, he said, “You know your mistress wants to build a school!”
Mrs Gibbert did not look at him, she seemed extremely preoccupied with the tea.
“You knew!” he said and turned to a maid. “Did you know about that plan, Mary?” The little maid blushed and bowed and said a feeble—“Yes, sir!”
“I am the only one not to be informed! Kept in secret!”
But he was joking; he smiled and the two women breathed a sigh of relief.
That evening, in a long time, he did not go away, he lay down on her bed, watching her stomach which was already big; he enjoyed seeing his baby moving, and he liked to feel it through his palms.
It was a late September night, the windows were opened wide and from outside came a light warm breeze.
“You changed the curtains,” he said, admiring the splendid white curtains made of delicate lace.
“I hope you are not mad,” she said. “I did not ask permission! It was your mother’s room.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, Elizabeth,” he said. “It is your room now, your house, you can do whatever you want!”
She was happy because she felt, indeed, it was her room, but, as always her departure was in her heart tormenting her.
He did not see her pain just took her in his arms, telling her stories about himself when he was a little boy, how naughty he was and how often his mother had to punish him. But Anne Darcy was incapable of persisting in her punishment, spoiling him more each day.
“I believe that was one of the reasons I was so proud and…”
But Elizabeth did not let him finish his sentence, she gently put her hand on his mouth, saying, “Anne Darcy made a wonderful work rising you! I hope I shall be like her…”
“You will,” he said, “you will!”
He was talking mildly knowing Elizabeth would sleep, she was always tired in those days. The nights were more and more difficult, but as he caressed her face he found it soaked from tears.
He gently pushed her to see her, but she tried to hide her sorrow.
“Elizabeth, my love,” he said, “why are you crying?”
“I am not your love,” she whispered and she began to sob with all her body.
“Elizabeth, you are scaring me! Of course you are my love!”
Mrs Gibbert had told him that pregnant women were very emotional and cried easily, but Elizabeth had been so reliable and enjoyable since their wedding…till now.
He wanted to take her into his arms again, but she managed to lean on the headboard and avoid him.
“I cannot do it anymore!” she said among tears and sobs.
“What cannot you do anymore?” His face was a mask of worry, he wanted to take her in his arms, but again she refused.
“I want to go to my home. Did you buy that property?” she asked, looking at him.
“What property?”
He was just not understanding.
“The one for me and the baby, I want to go there now!”
“Now?” Looking at her he wanted to laugh as it was an effort for her even to lie in bed. But she was serious and he could see on her face a pain he did not understand.
“How can you imagine you can go anywhere now?”
“I want to go, anyhow!” she said and she was not crying anymore. His pregnant wife was gone and he had in bed the Elizabeth who told him she did not want to marry him.
“What happened?” he managed to ask for the first time very alarmed.
“Did you buy that property?”
It took him a moment to understand what she was talking about, “I didn’t…”
She did not let him finish the sentence as a huge sob erupted from her chest.
This time he took her in his arms by force, almost fighting with her, “Stop, Elizabeth, stop, you are hurting yourself and the baby, let me explain to you!”
He waited some moments until her sobbing calmed down.
“That property will be available next year in June or July!”
And the sobs began again.
“My darling,” he said, “you are safe here, with all the people around loving you…”
“But not you!” she said.
And at that moment he began to understand, a strange smile on his face, that looked like a victory, but as she was willing to face him again, he hid that smile from his face.
“I adore you,” he said, “I am crazy about you!”
She could not believe her ears, the man in front of her was not lying.
“But then why did you go each night to…” she could not tell where he was going to because she was crying again.
“Stop, please my love, stop crying.”
He rang for Weston and gave him some orders in a low voice, Elizabeth could not hear, but she did not even want to hear. The idea of departing from Pemberley devastated her, yet she could not take it anymore. She could not search for him every night and find he was gone to love another woman.
When Weston shut the door, he came back to the bed, but this time he had a new expression on his face, one she could not interpret.
“So, Elizabeth,” he said almost like he would discuss business, “you cannot handle this situation!” and he made a gesture pointing in the direction where the marchioness mansion was.
“No!” she said.
She did not plan her crisis, she did not even want to discuss it with him; no matter how difficult it was she adored staying at Pemberley and did not want to leave. Even the school was a motive— making her secretly hope that the baby would keep her there beyond July, next year. Yet she suddenly began to cry. It was an unconscious outburst. She kept on asking herself why she was so miserable when her life was exactly what she wanted it to be. Day and night she asked herself the same question not finding the answer…till last night waiting for him in his bed alone and sad…and he arrived, smiling and happy while she felt her heart tearing in two!
She was jealous!
It was a revelation that almost made her faint. She was jealous and there was only one motive for jealousy…love. Her heart was filling with a sentiment she had tried to avoid recognising. It was love, all the time it was love, at Netherfield was love, that night when they conceived the baby, in London when she was not looking at him, every day and night from the moment she arrived at Pemberley it was the same but she had been too stubborn to recognise it and now she had to go.
“No, I cannot,” she said again in a calmer voice.
“And why can you not take this situation anymore? I thought it was the perfect choice for you.”
As she was not answering, he came closer, looking in her eyes so intensely she could not support his gaze.
“I have done everything for you, exactly how you wanted, I have accepted all your foolish demands but now, Elizabeth, I need an answer!”
“And I am so grateful, that is exactly why I do not want to disrupt your life again!”
“Disrupt my life again, Elizabeth, I am ordering you!” he shouted so loud that all the chamber resonated.
“I am jealous!” she shouted almost in the same tone. It was like a volcano finally erupting, “I am jealous every night and every day!”
The expression on his face suddenly changed, one could see plain satisfaction. She recognised the satisfaction from the first moment, hardly believing her eyes, but it was too late to take back her words. He was happy for her jealousy. He was delighted, relieved…all in one expression.
“You, horrible man!” Elizabeth shouted, “You knew all the time!”
“What? What did I know Elizabeth!”
“That I was jealous and…”
“And…?”
“And I love you!” she said as he took her in his arms, whispering.
“You…you vixen, you almost killed me!”
Chapter 25
Weston found them in the parlour already dressed, his mistress’ cheeks red but calm, while his master seemed as though paradise just opened for him; he announced the Marchioness of Derbyshire and Colonel Fitzwilliam.
Elizabeth stood up all her air expelled from her lungs, for an instant she could not breathe, but the three people were laughing, almost dancing around her.
“What is this?” she asked.
Darcy felt sorry and took her into his arms, but Elizabeth freed herself, as she wanted to see them all.
“It is what you see,” he tried to explain, “Alexandra coming from her home with her future husband!”
Elizabeth kept looking from one to another in disbelief and anger.
“You could not!” she shouted in the colonel’s direction, starting to understand.
“Yes, we could, my dear cousin,” the colonel said, kissing her hand. “We certainly could!”
And again they laughed. Alexandra came close to her and took her hand. Elizabeth wanted to resist, but she was too shaken to be able to move.
“I am sorry Elizabeth but you nearly drove this poor man mad,” she said pointing to Darcy.
Finally, she succeeded in sitting down trying to keep her composure, “You are adults!”
“Most of the time!” Darcy smiled, he wanted to approach her, but she made a gesture to stop him.
“The marchioness is…?” she asked with a piercing tone.
“The colonel’s betrothed!” Darcy said like a pupil in the classroom in front of his teacher.
“Since?”
“Since July!”
“She was never…?”
“Never!” Alexandra exclaimed, looking at the colonel who smiled.
“So everything was a play meant to…”
“Come, Elizabeth,” Alexandra said, “why this interrogation? It was obvious you were the woman for him; he loved you from the beginning, and he wanted to marry you. You are so good together, and the only one not to see the truth was you.”
“The property near Netherfield?” Elizabeth asked.
“A lie!” Darcy said, smiling, “There is no property I want to buy there and I never had the intention to let you leave Pemberley!”
“Never?”
Elizabeth was in shock, but she had to admit, secretly, she was relieved as she felt the burden of the last months was vanishing away. They were all three standing in front of her guilty, yet she was the one who made them concoct such a plan. She…with the impulsiveness, the pride that governed her life, her conceit that sometimes guided her on a wrong path. She did not have the power to admit she was in love with him only because once she had thought he did not consider her worth his love.
“And what would you do if I still persisted in leaving for my…imaginary property?” she asked Darcy.
“I would have chained you in your room helped by Mrs Gibbert and Weston!”
And Elizabeth wondered if he really was joking.
“And the divorce…the separation?”
All three of them begun to laugh once again but it was the colonel to answer, “Did you ever met someone who managed to divorce? Man of woman? How could you believe such nonsense?”
Elizabeth just shook her head, it was true, all the story seemed now so impossible, yet she had believed it.
“But Darcy obtained so easily the marriage license…I thought he could do the same with the separation,” she tried in vain to find some excuses for her credulity.
“What woman in the world do you think would accept such a situation?” Alexandra finally asked with much kindness.
I did—she wanted to say—I accepted my husband to go to another woman. But not even that was entirely true.
“And where were you almost every night?” she turned to Darcy again just to see his lovingly smile.
“Hating you…in some place or another; hating you while riding like a mad man, hating you at Alexandra’s place at Matlock Manor…hating you while I was working with Philip…and loving you all that time.”
Elizabeth nodded as she seemed to ultimately accept the situation, but she was far from exhausting her questions.
“The contract I signed where I agreed not to marry again?”
“Fake, impossible!”
“My God, Darcy, are we even married?” she asked in sudden anguish.
“We are, my love, we are!”
“I shall never forgive you!” she said, but the smile was already in the corners of her mouth.
“I know, my love!”
“You are going to pay for my school!”
“Yes,” he said, “but there are some negotiations that must take place.”
She knew what he meant but kept her posture.
“And the salary for two teachers and for the books, paper, everything!”
“Let’s go to sleep; I think tomorrow you could obtain a better price!” Darcy said, laughing.
Chapter 26
Alexandra became the best partner for Elizabeth’s school, she knew how to exploit Darcy and the colonel and till Christmas they were best friends. So well continued their friendship that she and the colonel decided to have their marriage at Pemberley as Elizabeth could not go further than the house.
Each night Darcy had to carry her to the bedroom as she could hardly climb the stairs.
When the doctor could not say anything about her pregnancy, Mrs Gibbert decided to bring an old woman named Beulah, who was the midwife of a nearby village. She was well-known by her craft, she could tell a woman if she would have a boy or a girl and more than once she had saved women at the birth.
“What is wrong with your mistress?” the old woman asked.
“Nothing, just she is so big she cannot move despite the fact she still has more than a month to delivery.”
Beulah came; she was rather frightening, but her eyes were kind when she liked someone. She looked at Elizabeth who felt a pleasant warmth invading her. Suddenly she had all the confidence in the world in that woman.
“Where is the father?” she asked Mrs Gibbert.
Mrs Gibbert looked more shocked than surprised, as these were things not for a man, but Beulah said, “We cannot do anything without the father, he is the other half.”
She sat down with her hands in her lap, looking at Elizabeth’s belly, mumbling something.
Darcy arrived, he was timid and uncomfortable, but Beulah smiled at him and said, “Show me the belly of your woman!”
It was such a strange atmosphere but no one dared to protest. Beulah lingeringly palpated the huge belly then took Darcy’s hand and guided him, “Here you can feel the baby’s head, it is harder than the rest!” She made him feel and only when Darcy smiled, she stopped. “Well my dear, if you palpate in the other part, you will feel the same!”
She sat down again and said to Darcy, “Your lady has twins!”
Both Darcy and Mrs Gibbert had to sit at such a piece of news. They were both happy but confused, as it was a rare event to have twins.
“You are blessed,” Beulah said, “but I would not say the delivery will be easy. If you trust me, I can deliver the boys in good health.”
“The boys?” exclaimed Darcy. “Two babies and both boys! You are killing me, Elizabeth!”
Epilogue
Ten years later, on a splendid autumn day, Darcy was coming back from his tour of the estate. On the steps of Pemberley sat a little princess of no more than four years old crying. She was eating an apricot and her beautiful lace dress was dirty from the sweet juice while on her adorable face the tears mingled with the dust from her hands. In the distance, her nanny was observing her, but as always Alethea wanted to be alone on the steps waiting for her papa. When she saw him, it took just a few rapid steps to run to him. Her cries became sobs while she took his head in her little arms.
The nanny smiled, wondering how a little girl like Alethea could influence a man like her master, but it was like that, everybody knew.
“Why is my princess crying?” he asked with a terrible voice ready to kill all the dragons that upset his daughter. “Who did upset you, dear fay?”
“The devil-brothers!” she said between sobs.
Darcy laughed in her curled honey hair. It was what Elizabeth and he called the twins when nobody was around. But it seemed the little fay was everywhere and she knew what she meant.
“And may I know how?” he asked.
“They said I am too small to go to school.”
He looked at her in amazement, “Do you want to go to school?”
She nodded while he tried to take the apricot from her hand.
“Why does a fay want to go to school?”
The little girl was not so dirty anymore as all the grime was on his shirt, she was so beautiful that Darcy could not but smile, “I need to learn to write,” she said very seriously, I have a novel to write!”
∞∞∞
Alethea learned to read and to write and from that moment on nobody could make her do anything else. Except swimming and riding with her family…but that was considered the way they enjoyed being together.
From the age of eleven, and perhaps earlier, Alethea wrote poems and stories for her own and her family’s amusement. In these works she detailed daily life at Pemberley, she wrote about all the persons who ever entered their domain—friends, family, servants. Sometimes she wrote stories full of anarchic fantasies of female power, licence, illicit behaviour, and general high spirits.[2]
When they had a family reunion one looking around could wonder how it was possible for almost only men to be around the table. The colonel had three boys, his brother had two, while Elizabeth and Darcy— had the twins.
